Read all about it - You can't afford to be without this twice-weekly newsletter - sign up today to get your breaking streaming and digital media news!

Occasional announcements sent by Streaming Media, or on behalf of our advertising partners, on what we feel are important offers, developments, publications, and events in the streaming/online video industry.

The streaming video market in the United States is a vibrant and healthy one, says a report from Futuresource Consulting, although it's still a small fraction of the total video and pay TV market. The U.S. now has 125 million subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) accounts, which makes up 10 percent of consumer spend in the total market, says David Sidebottom, a principal analyst at Futuresource. He predicts steady growth for established services during the rest of the year, as well as the debut of several newcomers.

The pay TV market is still driving the most growth, although it's doing so by increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) rather than growing subscriptions. The pay TV market took in over $100 billion in 2017. Futuresource expects subscriptions to fall by 1 percent in 2018.

The streaming landscape in 2018 will be dominated by new direct-to-consumer services, increased availability of 4K video, net neutrality discussions, and Movies Anywhere, the online storage locker service that debuted in October 2017 and is supported by Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The overall video and pay TV market will be worth $140 billion by the end of 2018, Futuresource predicts.

In related news, Dish Network announced that it now has 2.2 million Sling TV subscribers. This is the first time Dish has announced the figure. This means Sling has more subscribers than DirecTV Now, Hulu Live TV, and YouTube TV.